Burmese cigarettes worth Rs 60 lakh seized on Agartala Bypass; one arrested

In a successful operation, Tripura Police on Monday seized a huge consignment of Burmese cigarettes worth approximately Rs 60 lakh from the Agartala Bypass road and arrested one person in connection with the case.

Providing details, the Officer-in-Charge (OC) of Srinagar Police Station under West Tripura district said that acting on specific intelligence inputs regarding the transportation of contraband items, police personnel launched a vehicle-checking drive at the Moloynagar stretch of the Agartala Bypass.

During the checking, a suspicious lorry was intercepted. Upon conducting a thorough search, police recovered a large quantity of Burmese cigarettes concealed inside the vehicle.

According to the OC, a total of 37 large cartons containing around 7.70 lakh cigarettes were seized. The estimated market value of the contraband is Rs 60 lakh. The driver of the lorry, identified as Santosh Ghosh (38), was arrested on the spot.

The seized foreign cigarettes were later handed over to the Customs Department for further legal action.

Police have initiated a detailed investigation to identify the owner of the consignment and ascertain the source and intended destination of the smuggled cigarettes.